The 13 goals of 2013 - Slightly Revised.

We're planning to hit the slopes today, as well as get the rest of our Christmas decorations put away. It's nothing if not an ambitious day. We're going to close out the evening with an Xbox Kinect dance paty, a movie, & some popcorn. We live on the edge! :-)

I've been fine tuning my 2013 goals a bit, & have a few minor tweaks. I've combined a few goals that go together & made some goals more actionable by clearly defining what I hope to achieve & how to get there. (If you're reading between the lines, I love goals, love to push myself, & consolidated in order to give myself additional goals while still staying within my requirement of only having 13.) :-)

1. Lose 12 pounds, bringing my weight to 135. I'm trying to shoot for a healthy, but realistic number.
2. Track my food/exercise every day in My Fitness Pal.
3. Improve my fitness by doing the following:
• Complete 13,000 minutes of cardio. This will be a huge stretch goal for me, but I'm ready for the challenge!
• Complete 100 strength workouts.
• Complete 100 stretching workouts.
4. Run consistently, as measured by the following:
• Run 10 races. I have a few in mind, but basically want to challenge myself to really maintain my running endurance throughout the year.
• Run 20 miles (or more per week).
• Run 1000 miles in 2013.
• Achieve a personal best in a half marathon.
• Run a 5K, 10K, 15K, & potentially a 30K.
5. Reach 50% of our boys college fund savings. This will take around $10,000, depending on the tuition price fluctuation.
6. Pay $50,000 of principal on our mortgages.
7. Have one date night per month with M, & get together with two friends per month.
8. Track our spending, stick to our budget, & continue the monthly reports.
9. Review our charitable contributions, & increase our yearly giving by 10%.
10. Organize one room in our house per month.
11. Learn to bake bread (bagels, english muffin bread, sandwich bread). This is partially because I'd like to trim our grocery budget, but also because it's something I've tried & failed at before & just want to improve.
12. Create/finalize will & guardianship papers. I hesitated even adding this to my goals, as I've failed at this for the last two years. But, it's important enough that I'm adding it again.
13. Generate $1,000 in "side hustle", loosely defined as anything outside my normal paycheck, for the year. I've never tracked this before, so keeping the bar low. The money will be used to convert my grandmother's old movies into DVDs, and the rest will go towards my sister's 40th birthday trip.

And, here's a picture of me with M, last year, on the slopes. :-)

What are your goals for 2013? I love reading about all of your aspirations & ideas!

2012 Goals In Review

We're leaving the beach today, & I'm going to miss it so much. The weather has been rainy & drizzly, but we've had all kinds of inexpensive family fun. LOTS of games (Jenga, Spot It, Battleship, Air Hockey, dodge ball) & quiet snuggles.

We're thinking about going skiing tomorrow to ring in the new year, so we'll head back & put things back together before the daily grind starts again.

There is only one day left in 2012, so I think we can jump the gun a bit & do a final goal review! You can find my original 2012 goal post here.

1. Achieve and maintain my goal weight of 130 lbs. I have 20 lbs to go, as I'm starting at 150. - Hmmm, well, no. I did hit 142 over the summer, but have steadily gained during the period of work craziness & 60+ hour work weeks. And the holidays. I'm at 147. So, happy that I am down from last year, but certainly don't consider this a victory. :-(
2. Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio. My goal was 4500 for 2011, and I crushed this goal in 2012 (ended with 8700 minutes). I want to go big with this goal. :-) - Oh, yes, baby. I crushed this goal. Midway through the year, it was clear that I was on track for far more than 10,000 minutes, so I bumped this up to 12,000 minutes. I still am hoping to do an hour or so, but can say that I'm over 12,000 as of now. (12,088, to be exact. :-)) Sweet, sweet, yes! It's amazing what you can achieve - this was so much more than I ever though I was capable of.
3. Run a 1/2 marathon. I was fully trained for my first 1/2 marathon before I broke my foot in May. I'm starting from scratch, but want to get back to it. - Crushed this. I did a 5K, a 12K, a 15K, two half marathons, & a 200 mile relay. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
4. Spend less than $500 on clothing for myself and less than $500 for shoes/clothes for the kids. I shop for entertainment, and it's totally unnecessary. - No, fail. I spent $1655 on myself (mostly running shoes + gear & $1387 on the kids. I have a plan for 2013 to work on this.
5. Complete 100 strength training workouts. - I completed 84 workouts for the year, so pretty decent, but not the number I was looking for.
6. Give up artificial sugar. (Mostly, the Splenda in my coffee & tea.) This will be TOUGH for me. :-) - Done! I now drink my coffee with just milk & my tea plain. I have had a few Vitamin Water Zeros after long runs, etc, but consider this goal a "win".  
7. Reach 50% of our goal for the boys college tuition GET accounts, for both kids. This will take about $12,000. - We are ending the year at 43% completion, so not a victory. But, the year threw a lot of curve balls, & we made the right tradeoffs & prioritizations.
8. Track all spending, stick to our budget, and complete monthly spending reports. - I tracked all of our spending, & completed monthly reports. We did not stick to our budget every month.
9. Pay off $50,000 on our vacation house mortgage and $100,000 on our primary residence mortgage. - No, this target was unattainable. Our goal for 2013 is going to be $100,000 on principal across both mortgages.
10. Have one date night per month with M. - Yes, although December was a date lunch! :-)
11. Get together with two friends/month, and plan a minimum of one girls only vacation this year. - Yes! I love this goal. :-)
12. Meet with an attorney & get our life insurance, wills, guardianship, trusts, etc squared away. This is a MUST do this year. - No, & I'm very frustrated with myself. We do not have a guardian that we're entirely comfortable with (we love my parents, & they would be amazing, but their age concerns me.) Not knowing who we want as the guardian has caused a roadblock, & but it's high time we at least get something together to protect our family.

So, altogether that's 5 complete wins, 4 partial wins, & 3 fails. I'm a little sad I didn't finish my strength goal, as I was very close. I'm going to continue to work hard & improve my goals, motivation, & tracking in 2013.

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence, clothing, travel, child care & personal spending, health & house, gifts & car maintenance,  miscellaneous kid spending + liquor, college funds & insurance.

Here are my final two goals! Today's topics for discussion are . . . cleaning & boys birthdays.

• Cleaning - we spent $388/month on cleaning in 2012 (we have a cleaner come to our house every week, & also occasionally use a cleaning service at the beach house). Obviously, this is a function of both laziness & our lifestyles. M travels extensively, I work full time, & we have two small kids. This is probably our most enjoyable luxury item, & the one I will have the hardest time getting M onboard with. He's a little (okay, a lot) OCD about cleanliness, & cleaning was causing a lot of arguments earlier in our marriage. I have some ideas about how we can cut this back a bit without too much pain, but I'm going to take a wait & see approach to the rest. Goal for 2013 is $200/month.

• Boys birthdays - obviously not a regular monthly expenses, but averages out to $40/month in 2012. We want to set this at $25 in 2013. Rather than doing giant friend parties, we're going to be doing something smaller at my parents house. I already have picked up a few gifts during the Christmas sales as well.

How did you do with your 2012 goals? How do you handle kids birthdays? Does anyone have wildly different ideas about household cleanliness than their spouse? How do you navigate that without fights? :) How are you spending your New Year's Eve?

This is me (in the blue shirt), completing my first half marathon, on Mother's Day. The boys joined me across the finish line. :-)

 



December goals in review

We're at the beach, having a fabulous time playing games, drinking cocoa, & relaxing. Life is good!

The month is drawing to a close, so let's see how I did. You can find my December goal post here. Overall, I'm pleased with my progress, given how crazy the month always is.

1. Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio, 10 strength, & 5 stretch workouts. - I'm currently at 826 minutes, 7 strength workouts, & 2 stretching workouts. Obviously, December was not exactly my best workout month.
2. Finish my 12K! - Done!!
3. Decorate the house for the holidays, & mail all Christmas cards. - Done! I did this early & it was awesome, & helped reduce my stress later in the month.
4. Lose 5 lbs (bringing me to 142). - Most definitely a no. I'm at 146 right now, & I feel lucky that I didn't gain over the holidays.
5. Finalize 2013 goals & budget. - Done! Here's my recap of my 2013 budget & my 2013 goals.
6. Have one date night with M. - We had a date lunch, so I'm going to count it!
7. Get together with two friends. - Lots of get togethers this month, so done!
8. Update/amend our 2011 taxes based on the $16K repayment issue. - Well, we've done our part & now we're waiting for the company to restate M's W2.
9. Stick to our December budget. - There are a few charges that need to clear, but I believe we will close out the month on track!!!! There's a first for everything. :-)
10. Clean out my closet & both boys closets. - I cleaned out the kids closets, & my dresser, as well as my night stand. Partial win? :-)
11. Put together our will & guardianship (at least a draft). - No. Major fail. :-(
12. Go to at least 5 holiday events with the kids! Lots of choices in our area - a parade that happens every night, a botanical garden decorated with lights, & a kids museum with a special gingerbread house exhibit. - Done! We had a great month & did lots of fun & festive holiday activities.

And, I'm behind (again!) on posting my budget categories, so here's a double whammy again today.

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence, clothing, travel, child care & personal spending, health & house, gifts & car maintenance, & miscellaneous kid spending + liquor.

Today's topics for discussion are . . . college funds & car insurance.

• College funds - this was a hotly debated one. We spent an average of $252/month in 2012, & want to reduce this to $200/month in 2013. Saving for our kids college is incredibly important to us, but we also need to clean up our own spending first. This budget category will be increased as soon as we hit some mortgage financial milestones. We do currently have 43% of the tuition accounts funded, so we're not terribly far behind.

• Car insurance - spend in 2012/month was $283. Our budget for 2013 is higher, at $317. Our insurance went up pretty drastically when we bought our car. We may look at another agent, but feel like this is pretty competitive (3 cars + our insurance on our vacation house is bundled in).

How did you do with your December goals? Are you saving for kids college expenses?

2012 Year End Net Worth

I try to capture my net worth on a semi-regular basis, but I'm not very successful. ;-) The end of the year seems like a good time to track this, so here goes!

You can see my 2011 net worth post here. Our net worth on 1/1/12 was $807,149.

Our net worth as of today is $933,487. A few things that have helped us this year - we've been steadily paying down our mortgages (across two properties) & property values are up substantially in our area (more than 12% near us).

I do believe we can hit the million dollar net worth mark by the end of 2013. Won't that be a fun moment? I'll have a little personal party, crack open the bubbly & think about other ways to save so we can retire early. :-)

Things to note:

• M is 45, & I'm 36.
• I've been maxing my 401K since I was 22. Between the two of us, we have around $600K in our retirement portfolio. Our goal is to have a sizable retirement fund ($6 million? I don't know exactly at this point) so we can retire early.
• I got lucky & hired at large company just out of college.
• I receive stock options & a performance based bonus, yearly.
• M & I both make healthy salaries.
• We own two properties - one is our primary residence, one is a vacation home.

And, I'm behind (again!) on posting my budget categories, so here's a double whammy again today.

 

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence, clothing, travel, child care & personal spending, health & house, gifts & car maintenance.

Today's topics for discussion are . . . the very specific category of boys (miscellaneous & liquor). 

 

 

• Boys (Misc) - this is a catch all bucket for any expenses for the kids that don't fit into clothing or activities. A new bike, admission to an event, etc, all fall under this. I feel like part of this money is wasted- a new toy when we're out, etc. There's nothing wrong with a little of that, but I feel like we didn't pay close enough attention to this category in 2012 - average expense was $103. Goal for 2013 is $25.

• Liquor - M & I have a glass of wine, a beer, or a mixed drink a couple of times per week. We also frequently bring drinks or wine to events. We travel to attend most family events, & bringing food can be trickier. We spent $55/month in 2012 (mostly on wine, I suspect) & our budget for 2013 is $20. We just need this to be less, and have to drink wine we're not terribly fond of (oh, the horror! ;-)) or do without. It's healthier & better for us anywhere.

Do you track your net worth? How did 2012 treat you? Any goals for 2013? Do you have any dumping ground categories? I clearly need to make this one more specific. And, do you have any vices, like wine? :-)

Attempting to corral my habit

One of my 2013 goals is to run 10 races. For those of you who aren't runners, races range quite a bit in price, from well over $100, to $15 & it can be a very expensive hobby. At the end of some races, you are greeted with a well known band, an expensive shirt, a medal, & free beer. Given my financial goals for the year, those races will be few & far between. :-) I actually love the smaller races where you get nothing other than a piece of pizza & a bottle of water tossed at you as you cross the finish line, but most of my racing calendar for 2013 will be determined by our schedule rather than my first choice races.

I currently have seven races selected that are nicely spaced out (i.e. I have no plans to run three half marathons in six weeks, even though three of my favorite runs are within that same time period.) The races for the last few months of 2013 are not posted yet, so I'll add a few additional runs once that gets locked down.

Planning ahead & really looking at: the price of each race, & the overall family calendar & run calendar is part of ensuring that I don't register for races that I can't attend, or overbook myself. Most of these runs offer a significant discount if you register before 12/31/12, so I'm hoping to save additional money by pre-planning.

Here's what my 2013 race calendar currently looks like:

• January - 5 mile trail run. Near my house. Price = $15. Perfect!
• March - 15K Shamrock run in Portland. Running with friends. Price = $36.
• April - 30K road run. This will be my big goal, as I've never run 30K before. My longest distance is a half marathon. Price = $55
• May - half marathon on Mother's Day. Very close to my house, & price = $45
• July - half marathon in Seattle. Price = $75
• August - Hood to Coast 200 mile relay. AMAZING. EPIC experience (we ran it last year & my team qualified to run again.) Price = ? I paid the deposit already, but we'll all chip in for van rentals, gas, & food. I'm guessing another $200.
• December - 12K run near my house.

And, I'm behind (again!) on posting my budget categories, so here's a double whammy again today.

 

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence, clothing, travel, child care & personal spending, and health & house.

 

Today's topics for discussion are . . . our spending categories gifts & the car. 

 

• Gifts - we spoil people. It's both a blessing & a flaw. We like to be very generous, & are by far the most well off in our family, which sometimes makes us feel like we can swoop in & really give someone an amazing gift. That's certainly not a bad attitude, but we're trying to focus more on smaller, more personal gifts, & less on things. We spent $252/month in 2012 (and, this doesn't include trips we paid for for others, as that was included in the almighty travel budget) & our goal for 2013 is $100. This will be both a financial & personal challenge for us.

• Car - well, we bought a car in 2012 (that budget item isn't reflected in this category, as this is meant to cover monthly maintenance), & that purchase required several up front purchases. We spent $133/month in 2012 & want to get this to $100/month in 2013.This shouldn't be too challenging, barring any major issues, as the car is still under warranty.
   

How do you budget for your hobbies & look for ways to trim back the cost? How much do you budget for gifts throughout the year? I'm always interested to hear how others manage this. And, car expenses?

A Christmas recap

We had a fabulous holiday with the family. Our boys were very excited to see Santa visit on Christmas Eve.

My sister & I were also very excited about the pomegranate martinis. . . :-)

All in all, it was a wonderful & relaxing (well, as relaxing as any holiday ever is with four boys under ten). :-) The boys all got plenty of gifts, but not TOO much. It was nice to see them open their smaller number of gifts, & not notice a bit that we've trimmed back.

Both my parents & grandmother got the boys smaller gifts (new bike helmets & an airplane assembly kit, respectively) & then gave us money for their college fund, which is an awesome balance of something fun, & something they will appreciate later.

Here's how our 2012 holiday budget played out:

My budget goal for 2012 was $970, with the caveat that I would donate any additional money I was able to save. My actual spend was $778.18, which means. . . *drumroll please*, I came in almost $200 under budget!!!

I went over in some categories (I ended up buying M a board room membership for the airline he uses most frequently, as he's traveling 40-60% of the time now.) It's a gift that he will enjoy for the entire year. I also spent more than planned on food for the parties we attended, and have already come up with a revised menu for 2013 to trim this back.

I made a total donation of $250 to charity (split between Giving Tree, a food bank, and a personal donation to a family in need). It was a huge incentive to know that every dollar I saved at the holidays would go towards a donation. I'm definitely going to keep this in the budget for next year.

I am so, so proud of sticking to my budget!! Woohoo!!

And, I'm behind (again!) on posting my budget categories, so here's a double whammy again today.

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence, clothing, travel, & child care & personal spending.

Today's topics for discussion are . . .  our spending categories for health & house.

• Health - this covers all of our health care spending that isn't covered by insurance + race registration fees. I consider running an integral part of my overall healthy lifestyle, which is why it's included here. We spent $112/month in 2012 on this category, and plan to spend $100/month in 2013. I know we are incredibly blessed to have excellent health care, and it looks like we'll be rolling over money in our health care accounts, which should defray most health care spending. If I closely monitor & plan for races (and not cancel, which means no refunds!) this should be doable. One of my personal goals in 2013 is to run 10 races, and I know that one of the races will be super expensive (Hood to Coast), which means that I need to select less expensive races the rest of the year.

• House - this is everything from non-grocery items like toilet paper, to a new sofa. Kind of broad, eh? ;-) We spent an average of $222/month in 2012. A few big spends skewed this number - a new sofa, and a bike for M. Our goal for 2013 is $100/month.

How much do you spend on your health & house categories? Did you come in under budget with your Christmas spending?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you & yours! I hope this is holiday is fabulous, relaxing & enjoyable.

We're heading to my parents house shortly for a full couple of days of activities. Here's how we celebrate at our house:

• Appetizers & chatting with the immediate family (my parents + my sister & her family)
• A Kinect dance party. I've already challenged my sister.
• Santa will make an in person visit tonight, & drop off gifts for the four boys :-)
• When the kids hit the hay, we will put the other gifts out.
• In the morning (always bright & early), we'll drink hot chocolate while the kids open gifts. (No gifts for the adults - love it, because we get to watch the kids enjoy their presents).
• After gift opening, we do a festive holiday brunch, complete with champagne.
• My grandmother comes over to see the kiddos
• We have a giant holiday microbrew tasting party with friends & family
• After that, a full ham dinner with all of the sides
• And, then we drive to the beach for the rest of the holidays

I'm so excited. I love these next couple of days. :-)

I couldn't get blogger to add a picture, but envision four extremely excited boys under 10, & you will be on the right track.

Wishing you a very merry holiday season!!!

Weekly Spending Roundup

I'm trying to get back into tracking our expenses weekly, as it quickly shows me when/where we get off track. Here's how we did tihs week!

• Monday -
• $32.38 - Rite Aid. A stock up on my night time & day time face lotion (Neutrogena), plus face wash cloths that I keep in my gym bag for after my runs.
• Tuesday -
• $250 - cashier's check for our HELOC, as part of the refinance. I don't understand it, but it's a fee of some sort. I *love* fees. ;-)
• Wednesday -
• $.95 - Gatorade at Rite Aid for a sick kiddo. I actually got a bunch of stuff (4 giant Gatorades + kids shampoos/body washes, since I had a $10 UP). This was just the tax.
• -$160 - refund for a relay race that got cancelled.
• Thursday -
• $88.89 - Costco. Other than our typical weekly produce buys, the big expense here was citrus vodka for the pomegranate martinis we're bringing to Christmas. The vodka was $45.10
• $7.76 - groceries at Fred Meyer. Picked up what I need for my appetizer for Christmas Eve, plus an extremely cheap pound of Italian chicken sausage ($1.50).
• $14.48 - two bottles of Aveeno lotion for my son with skin allergies.
• $.35 - two additional bottles of Aveeno (after an UP award)
• Friday -
• $33.04 - holiday lunch with M!
• Saturday -
• No spend day!
• Sunday -
• $23.07 at Fred Meyer. $1.18 on yeast (attempting to make my own bread. Again :-)) & $21.89 on new rain boots for S. I swear, his foot has doubled in size in the last month. His socks stopped fitting. Socks! Over night, really. He needs new shoes, rain boots & ski boots. The latter will be a big expense. At least the rain boots were on sale!

Total spend for the week = $290.92. Not too shabby, considering the bank fee. Luckily, the race cancellation credit showed up in time to offset that charge. Yeah. :-)

How did you do this week? Lots of holiday spending?

One of my favorite pictures of me + the quickly growing S, from a few years ago.

Planning for the year ahead

I've been busy trying to get ready for the new year ahead today. I love this kind of stuff! :-)

I've already posted my 2013 goals, my 2013 snowflake goal, and my January decluttering challenge.

I spent several hours today, carefully going through our 2013 budget & making adjustments. I've created a yearly anticipated spend, & then went in & adjusted for each month. For example, I have a yearly spend for the kids birthdays, but they fall in February & March, so presumably all of the yearly budget will be spent then. I updated my monthly budget for each category & determined if I had any categories where I hadn't accurately predicted our spend. Skiing -when creating our budget, I forgot that this is the last year that S gets the discounted kids rate, next year our cost will go up.

Anyway, I'm about 90% of the way there. Can't wait to kick off my new tracking & budgeting in just 10 days!

I also planned ahead & bought two gift cards to my gym. They were offering a Christmas special - buy $500 worth of gift cards, get a $100 bonus card free. The boys attend a summer camp at the gym in the summer, so I bought two gift cards today ($1000 total) & will use those gift cards to offset our summer child care costs. My plans for the $100 bonus cards? Well, let's just say that my birthday massage (always my present to myself) will be free this year! The other gift card will be used for a hair cut & a wax, I'm guessing. I haven't had my hair cut in months. Maybe six months? I don't know, but it's been a LONG time.

I defrosted an enchilada dish that I assembled a week or so ago & froze, so we'll be having a frugal dinner in anticipation of all of the craziness. I'm also going to be having wine. YUM. Love Saturday nights.

I went to the gym for a quick workout, the kids are so excited about Christmas that they are positively quivering, & the sun is shining in Seattle. Can this day get any better?

I'm officially on vacation until January 2nd. Let the festivities begin!

Me with the boys five years ago. They've grown up so much! S (on the left) is now a complete bean pole!

And, I'm behind (again!) on posting my budget categories, so here's a double whammy for today.

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence,  clothing, & travel.

Today's topics for discussion are . . .  child care & personal spending.

1. Child care - This one is mostly beyond our control, but luckily for us, N will start first grade next year, which means we'll be saving $330/month in full day kindergarten costs. Monthly average in 2012 was $1535 (and, I just have to call out that this is down from an all time high when we had two tiny babies in child care of . . . $4,000/month). Our budget for 2013 is $1200/month, as our expenses here continue to go down. This is a necessary evil - my salary more than offsets this cost, & for me to keep working, I need childcare. We are going to be planning our vacation days a little better this year, to hopefully reduce a few days here & there in costs.
2. Personal - this covers all expenses for the four of us. Haircuts, my occasional pedicures, etc. We spent $94/month in 2012 & want to get this down to $70 in 2013. I think I got my hair cut twice in 2012 (or maybe just once) & gave up coloring my hair, so my portion of this expense is pretty small. :-) Our 2013 goal is $70.

How are you preparing for the year ahead? And, how much do you spend on child care (if any) or personal expenses? Always curious to see how our categories compare!

January Decluttering Challenge

Many thanks to the always fabulous Carla for proposing a challenge for January!

I will definitely be needing a challenge in January, as December is full of lots of spending, both expected & unexpected.

 

1. For the financial challenge, my goal is to keep our weekly spending to $360/week. This includes the following categories (and, does not include standard bills like the mortgage, child care, etc):
• Groceries
• Dining out
• Gifts
• Clothes (mine & kids)
• Kids lessons
• Gas
• Personal (this is hair cuts, etc)
• Car
   
2. For the decluttering challenge, my goal is to get rid of (either sell, toss, or donate) 20 items per week in January. Bonus goal would be to clean my closet & dresser!
Today was my annual holiday lunch with M. We've been having a festive lunch before the holidays for at least the last ten years. Today was perfect. We ran a few quick refinance-related errands, & then had a delicious lunch with a glass of wine. And, dessert! I had a $35 credit for a restaurant, so that covered everything but the wine & tip. Yum!

What are you up to this weekend? Anything fun & festive? Are you participating in the challenge?

 

A Snowflake Goal for 2013

My youngest (N) has been home sick with the stomach flu, so we've had lots of snuggle time on the sofa, conference calls for work done between loads of laundry & refilling the Gatorade & doses of medicine.

I also have done some baking, as it's super rare for me to be home for any extended period of time during the day. Here's what I've made:

• Lentil soup - simple, but hearty & fantastic. I added diced grilled chicken toward the end of cooking, but it would be fine without it. Next time I'll also add carrots.
• Banana bread - hands down, best banana bread I've ever made. I had a boatload of frozen bananas, & was trying to clean out our freezer. I made 6 mini loaves, one big loaf, & multiple muffin batches. AMAZING. Oh, sweet yum.
• Granola - I tried the clump recipe from The Frugal Girl. It turned out great, but I'd bake it for less next time - it got a little toasty.
• Christmas cookies - Raspberry Strippers. I rarely bake for the holidays, but these are M's favorite holiday cookies. They are simple, & oh so wonderful. I used whole wheat flour & actually prefer the flavor it provided - a little heartier.

So, the freezer is now stocked, we have fresh granola for the pantry, a nice surprise for M when he gets home tomorrow, & I have soup to eat for the week.

I also managed to clean out both of the kids closets & drawers, & a bookshelf. I'm on fire today! :-)

I posted a few weeks ago that I was converting a few old videos into DVDs for my grandmother's Christmas gift. I somehow ended up with an old box of 35 home movies from the 1960s, in varied condition, with no labels. My sister & I really wanted to get our grandmother something meaningful & special this year, so I chose five movies at random & sent them in. I wasn't very optimistic, as the quality of the movies looked poor after being stored in a garage for decades.

What we got back? Well, let's just say it was completely worth it. Four of five of the movies are great quality. One is pretty much all black. One of the movies is my aunt's wedding, another is a cousin on his first Christmas, all of my mom's siblings on vacation, & my favorite - - footage of my grandfather who passed away when I was two. We previewed the movies for my mom & uncle last weekend, & everyone was crying when we saw the footage of my grandfather. I'm getting all teary just thinking of how amazing it was to actually "see him".

I really, really want to have all of the movies converted & share the footage with the family. I'm estimating it will take a minimum of $350-400. It's not in my budget, & I'm trying hard to stay on track. So, I've decided that it will be a great motivator to use my snowflake money towards this project, & send the movies in small batches as I'm able to.

I've already done a $30 & $10 survey over the past couple of weeks, which should pay for a few movies. I'll make sure I include this project as my Mother's Day gift to both my mom & grandmother as well. I'm also going to scout out deals & continue to check to see if the service we use runs any specials.

All in all, a fabulous goal for my 2013 snowflakes!

How are you planning on spending your snowflakes this year?

A belated menu plan

I'm trying to focus on the positives this week, & really enjoy the time with the family. Lots of tears & questions (both my own, unanswered questions) as well as now questions from the kids. It's very hard to move back into daily life with all of the constant reminders of the terrible tragedy.

As I mentioned yesterday, I do well with distractions & focusing on the day-to-day minutiae of our lives right now.

Here's our menu plan for the next ten days or so (M is out of town a lot, so meals will be easy again):

• Monday - we had leftover chicken pesto pizza + cheese pizza for the kids & salad
• Tuesday - Lentil soup + salad
• Wednesday - Leftover soup + grilled chicken on a salad
• Thursday - Soup + sandwiches
• Friday - Three cheese chicken florentine bake (from the freezer)
• Saturday - Chicken pesto paninis
• Sunday - Leftovers - cleaning out the fridge before we head out of town
• Monday - I'm bringing Maggiano's (Italian food) to my family's Christmas Eve party
• Tuesday - Christmas dinner with the family
• Wednesday - at the beach. I'm thinking Oven Baked Chicken Risotto
• Thursday - at the beach. Crab cakes + salad
• Friday - at the beach. Barbecued burgers + a veggie of some sort.
• Saturday - at the beach. Basil shrimp with feta & orzo.
• Sunday - Home from the beach, & possibly skiing. Chicken enchiladas (from the freezer)
• Monday - New Year's Eve! I think we're going to do grilled steak, sauteed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, & chocolate souffle.

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence, & clothing.

Today's topic for discussion is . . . a juicy one - travel.


Oh my, the shame. Notice this one is buried ten deep in the list. ;-) And, honestly, I don't have *too* many regrets. We love spending time with our friends & family, & blew this number out of the water. I treat my friends to a trip every summer, & we treated my mom & sister to a trip for my mom's 60th birthday. Insert a few weekends away with me + M, and our family Hawaii trip, & you can quickly see where this is going. We spent $1400/month (averaged, of course) in 2012 on travel. *shivers*. Our goal for 2013 is. . . . (drumroll, please) - $0. That doesn't mean we won't do anything, but for goodness sake, we have a vacation house, & our priority should be spending our vacations together there. If we do any trips in 2013, the money will not be coming out of our standard budget. I have a few creative ideas on how to finance some upcoming events (my sister's 40th & a potential family trip to Hawaii), but none of that can come out of our monthly budget.

Now that I've confessed to our travel expenses, what was the number one category that you spent more than you expected on in 2012? And, how much do you spend on travel?

December goal check - more than halfway there!

As usual, things are flying by. Here's a quick status check for December, as the month is more than half way through.

Here are my goals, with progress noted.

1. Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio, 10 strength, & 5 stretch workouts. - I'm at 580 minutes of cardio, 5 strength, & 2 stretch. Need to focus on the stretching, but on track.
2. Finish my 12K! - Done! It was cold (35) & damp & windy, but I did it! :-)
3. Decorate the house for the holidays, & mail all Christmas cards. - Done!
4. Lose 5 lbs (bringing me to 142). - Ah, December is hard. I'm wavering between 145 & 146, so slightly behind. Especially with all of the festivities.
5. Finalize 2013 goals & budget. - Done!
6. Have one date night with M. - We're planning to have lunch on Friday.
7. Get together with two friends. - Lots of get togethers this month. Done, done, done! :-)
8. Update/amend our 2011 taxes based on the $16K repayment issue. - We've done our part. Waiting on M's previous employer to do theirs.
9. Stick to our December budget. - We'll see. It will be tight with some unexpected refinance costs.
10. Clean out my closet & both boys closets. - Yeah, not yet.
11. Put together our will & guardianship (at least a draft).  - Yeah, not yet.
12. Go to at least 5 holiday events with the kids! Lots of choices in our area - a parade that happens every night, a botanical garden decorated with lights, & a kids museum with a special gingerbread house exhibit. - Done! We'll likely do a few other things as well.

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, utilities at our vacation house, & utilities at our primary residence.

Today's topic for discussion is . . . clothing.

I've fallen behind on posting my budget categories, so here are two for today.

• Boys clothes/shoes/sports gear/etc - We shop sales (except for shoes - we buy one pair of high quality shoes for each kid + rain boots) for clothes, but still manage to spend more than I'd like outfitting two rough & tumble boys. Average monthly spend in 2012 was $113. I'd like to bring this down to $50/month. I think this is doable. I used to be very big on shopping one season ahead, but have discovered fits don't exactly match (I have one very skinny child, & one more average sized boy), seasons don't always align, & I tended to forget what I had in the closets & overbought. That's a bit of a good news/bad news situation, as we have a fairly substantial inventory in the next size up, which should reduce our need to spend in 2013. The $50/month will mostly go towards shoes, and any sporting equipment/uniforms.

• My clothes/shoes - I probably spent the least EVER on my own clothes in 2012, minus running stuff. That killed my budget. I went through three pair of running shoes before I found a brand/fit that didn't make me lose all of my toenails. Lovely, eh? I now have some preferences, & think I can cut this back in 2013. I spent $138/month in 2012 & will spend $25/month in 2013. I'll likely bank this each month to replace my running shoes once/quarter or so.

How much do you spend on clothing for yourself & your kids?

Weekly Spending Roundup

It was a sad weekend. As the mom of a 5 & 6 year old, the Newtown tragedy struck way too close to home. It was difficult to send the kids on the school bus this morning.

It's trivial, but focusing on the small details of my life is a welcome distraction right now. Nothing is more trivial than my weekly spending roundup, so here goes.

• Monday
• Rite Aid - Mascara. This was a "try it for free" item, so I've filled out the rebate & should be getting this back, minus the tax. - $9.80
• Gift for networking contact. (This is someone who did a call, reviewed my resume, & may be a great contact down the road when I'm job searching.) - $40.86
• Tuesday
• No spend day!
• Wednesday
• No spend day!
• Thursday
• No spend day!
• Friday
• $5.79 - groceries for our holiday party with friends on Sunday.
• $7.67 - soap at Rite Aid
• $7.19 - blush at Rite Aid. This pushed me over to get a $5 UP reward.
• $13.15 - birthday gift at Victoria's Secret. I had a gift card for the rest of the bill.
• $515 - appraisal fee for our refinance
• $87.39 - gas
• $93.98 - groceries at Costco
• Saturday
• No spend day!
• Sunday
• $20.11 - Cash & carry for lime juice & a few other random things.

Total spent last week = $800.94, with $515 as the big (unplanned) expense towards our refinance.

We did try to focus on fun holiday stuff this weekend, especially given that our kids know nothing about what happened. We baked Christmas cookies on Friday & went to look at lights, we attended my nephew's birthday party on Saturday, & I did a holiday race on Sunday & we had our annual gift exchange with family friends.

Goal for the week? To embrace my family.

 

Five things Friday

I'm too tired to launch into a fully blown post, so here are a few things for today:

1. I'm excited for the weekend! We have my nephew's birthday party tomorrow, I'm running a race on Sunday morning (a 12K), I'm baking cookies with the kids in the afternoon, & then we're having our annual holiday get together with friends in the evening. We're keeping it simple (and inexpensive!) this year. We typically order food, but this year I'm making salad, appetizers, & a couple of varieties of homemade pizza. Plus wine & the cookies, we should be all set.
2. Inspired by Sluggy, I've been trying to work a few deals at Rite Aid. My goal was to earn the holiday bonus ($10 UP after spending $75), & not to buy anything we didn't already need. I didn't do a great job of tracking, but I do know that I spent a total of $47.01 at Rite Aid. I'm $7 away from the reward, & I have $7 of UPs to use, so that's a wash. I'm also going to be getting a $10 UP from the promo, & a $9 rebate from the purchase of a "try me free" mascara. I attempted to buy things that we needed, and had UP awards. Overall, I feel like I was pretty successful, considering I started from scratch on the UP awards. What did I buy?
• $2.92 - cold medicine for the kids. We were out - this was a need.
• $7.67 - Soap. Again, we were out.
• $4.66 - Dry shampoo. Bought it to have on hand, as I still have about half of my current bottle. I use this a lot after running, when I can't squeeze in washing my hair. (I always shower. ;-))
• $14.77 - A giving tree gift - a fabulous glittery nail polish set.
• $9.80 - The free mascara
• $7.19 - A new blush. I earned a $5 UP, so $2.19. I'm about 1/2 way through my existing blush, so this was a stock up item.
3. I'm making one of my favorite salads (using what I had on hand!) for a work potluck today. It's fresh spinach, grated Parmesan cheese, toasted hazelnuts (chopped), thinly sliced pears, craisins, & raspberry vinaigrette. Yum!
4. I realized that I missed my best friend's birthday last month. Not really, I did call, but it was the day were were flying back from Hawaii. She loves to exchange gifts, & although I've cut out birthday gift exchanges with ALL adults in my family, like I said, she enjoys it, so I respect that. We're meeting up on Sunday, so I need to get a gift. SO not looking forward to shopping today amid all of the craziness.
5. M is back from his travels (until next week!) & it's just so much easier to have a hand in the morning to help with the kiddos while I get ready for work. I also just miss him when he's gone.

In honor of the season, here's me with N, picking out a Christmas tree 5ish years ago. What a sweet Santa he was! :-)

I'm looking forward to having a glass of wine with M tonight, possibly taking the kids out to see some Christmas lights, & heating up an easy dinner from the freezer. So grateful for an easy meal after a week like this!

What are your plans for the weekend? Anything fun on the agenda?

Is it Friday yet?

M is traveling extensively this month, which means I'm flying solo with the kids. A lot. Quite frankly, I'm exhausted! He's back at midnight tonight, & home until 4 am on Tuesday, at which point he's gone until next Friday. But, that should be the end of the traveling for the month. *fingers crossed*.

I'm almost as tired as these little monkeys. Both boys fell asleep in the most awkward positions last year on the way back from skiing. They were clearly exhausted! :-)

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, gas, & utilities at our vacation house.

Today's topic for discussion is . . . utilities at our primary residence. I know, the thrills continue. ;-)

We spent an average of $414/month in 2012. I'm not sure how we're going to accomplish this, as I took a new role & lost $40/month in cell phone reimbursement from my employer. But, we'd like to trim this to $400/month. It's not a huge decline, but it will require additional energy savings, & keeping a better eye on cell phone costs, given the cut in reimbursement. I'm sort of at a loss on how else to accomplish the cuts. The cell phone is required for my job, and our other expenses are the typical ones - power, gas, water, trash service, etc. We do have cable, & continually try to negotiate that down. Perhaps I'll do some research about best times to run the laundry, dishwasher, etc & ensure that we're minimizing the costs there.

Questions for you - how is your week going? Are you exhausted yet? :-) And, how do you cut costs on your utility bills? Any tips for me?

This & That

None of these little things warrant a post of their own, but, I've done the following to save money this week/over the past few days:

• I'm spending a ton of time on our refinance(s). I detest paperwork, but keep reminding myself of the big wins at the end. Paperwork. ICK.
• I listed a bunch of new books on Amazon last night. I've never used their selling service, so fingers crossed.
• I thought of Sonya Ann last night, & realized I had enough MyPoints to cash in & ordered a $10 Starbucks gift card. Not exactly on par with her savings, but better than a swift kick to the face. :-)
• I have several holiday events to attend this week, & rather than shopping for my standard appetizer & dessert selections, I found things I can make using my current pantry/fridge stash.
• I passed up an opportunity to go to Las Vegas to see Beyonce (for free!) with M for New Year's Eve. For two reasons. 1) Free in Las Vegas speak means you're still gambling, which is always risky, and the airfare for M is free, but not for me. So, not really free. 2) We are planning a family game/snuggle party night on New Years with the kids, & I'm not going to miss that. :-) The boys love New Years Eve
• M charged a $10,000 business expense (reimbursable) on our Starwood Amex, so we can use the points. That will help tremendously when we are saving Starwood points for our next Hawaii visit. 
• This wasn't an active "choice" on my part, but a race I registered for got cancelled, so I'm getting refunded $120. (It was a team half marathon.)

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, kids activities, & gas.

Today's topic for discussion is . . . utilities at our vacation house. I know, this one is a real thriller. ;-)


And, because this topic is too boring without a photo, here are the boys on the beach, using their metal detector. It was December, hence the bundling. :-)

We spent an average of $212/month in 2012 & want to drop this to $200/month for 2013. We already cut cable entirely (such a waste given how infrequently we're there) & due to the market size, there's no competition & prices are prohibitively high. We'll watch shows for free using our Amazon Prime membership.

Other than that change, the rest of the monthly charges are standard - we're already paying the minimum water bill (charged quarterly), our power bills are relatively low & we make sure everything is turned off when we leave. We have no trash or phone service, which leaves Internet service. Although this is optional, M & I frequently work from the beach house, which allows us flexibility on dates & to extend our trips when possible. Again, this is in a small town, so moving to another provider isn't an option. It's expensive, but we  pay for it.

The last cost that I loosely bucket under utilities is our watch service. We pay one time/year for a local business to provide a handyman/watchman service. Someone drives buy our house every day, and enters the house weekly to look for problems. Additionally, when there is a big wind storm or power outage (3-4x year in our location), they check the status of the house & report any issues, make small repairs, etc. Given our distance from the town (4 hours), this is an invaluable resource for us, which we've used many times.

That's pretty much it on the utilities. How are you looking to save on your utilities in 2013? And, what have you done to save money this week?

Getting old is rough

I swear, every morning I wake up & discover something new (& unpleasant!) about getting old. The bags under my eyes, the hair that's falling out (?!!!), the gray that's coming in on the few remaining strands, & of course, the difficulty in losing weight.

I had a great fitness week last week. I didn't have a great eating day on Friday (at the water park with the kiddos, had plenty of wine + pizza + part of a cupcake), but other than that, I ate well within my calorie goals & ran 22 miles last week. All in all, I would normally expect to be down a pound or so for my efforts. Yeah, not so much. I'm up just over a pound. However, I also know that on weeks when I'm really increasing my running, my weight tends to go up and stay up, for several weeks. I'm assuming this is because my fat is slowly turning into muscle (I can only hope my backside gets the memo) & I'm retaining more water. Fingers crossed, because it's no fun to put in all of the effort & see zero results.

Onward & downward, as they say!

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., dining out, & kids activities.

Today's topic for discussion is . . . Gas!

I love categories like this, because we spent less than expected (average per month in 2012 was $319 & our budget was $500). I have to embrace these categories, because they are few & far between. :-) We'd like to drop this to $275/month in 2013, which seems reasonable. We bought a much more fuel efficient car a few months back, & have seen substantial savings already. M also drives back & forth to the airport quite a bit for work, but gets reimbursed for his mileage. We tend to keep weekend driving to a minimum, so our big gas expenditures in 2013 will be from skiing (a trip to the mountain is about an hour each way & we drive our less fuel efficient car, as we're not as worried about scratching it, etc) & driving to the beach (four hours each way).

How much do you spend on gas each month? And, combating the whole getting old thing? Any tips or tricks? :-)

Weekly spending roundup

I used to do this a lot more often, & found it helpful.

Here's what we spent last week:

• Monday -
• $2.92 at Rite Aid for cold medicine for the kids.
• Tuesday -
• $49.24 - gift (music pass for my Dad).
• Wednesday -
• $49.23 - Toys R Us (donation gifts for Giving Tree)
• $63.88 - Fat Brain Toys - Christmas gift
• $295 - Alaska Air - Christmas gift (board membership for M, who travels constantly for work)
• Thursday -
• $16.69 - lunch out with a friend
• $19.75 - Amazon (used the bonus Facebook offer). Bought a few running things I needed (glamorous stuff - body glide & energy gels).
• $3.34 - Safeway, groceries.
• $20 - charitable donation for Christmas
• $14.77 - Rite Aid (donation gifts for Giving Tree)
• Friday -
• $15.06 - Quizno's. Lunch out on our way to Great Wolf Lodge.
• $50 - total travel spend for the weekend (the rest was covered via the deposit back in September).
• Saturday -
• $127.12 - Groceries at Costco. We were out of chicken & coffee - two big ticket items.
• $14.99 - household, at Costco. Trash bags.
• Sunday -
• $2 at Starbucks. It's my halfway point on my runs, so I bought a water & used the bathroom. 

Total spend for the week = $743.99, with $452.99 of that going towards holiday gifts, leaving $291 from our standard monthly expenses.

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi), our grocery budget., & dining out.

Today's topic for discussion is . . . Boys sports/activities


Boys sports/activities. We spent less than expected in this category (average per month was $150). We plan to keep this category as is. With two kids, dropping below $150/month makes it very hard for the kids to each participate in an activity. So far, the boys have: played baseball, soccer, swimming (lessons), & we're looking into karate. They each typically plan one sport per season.

How do you handle lessons for kids (if you have them)? Does it get cheaper as they get older? Please say yes! :-) Do you track your weekly spending?

Happy Sunday

I hope you are having an enjoyable & productive weekend. My sister & I took our four boys to an indoor water park on Friday, & came home yesterday. It's always an adventure - and, exhausting!

My goals for today include:

• Running 6-7 miles
• Doing pilates or yoga this evening after the boys go to bed
• Taking the kids to a fun holiday activity
• Grilling 2 giant Costco packages of chicken for the freezer (well, that will be M)
• Laundry
• Taking the kids to the library
• Returning a gift (if I'm up to braving the mall)
• Calling to organize my Christmas Eve meal (I'm ordering something)
• Determining what to serve next weekend at our holiday get together
• Mapping out my calendar (workouts, kids schedule) and to do lists for Monday-Sunday

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day. So far, I've covered mortgage interest (and a potential refi) & our grocery budget.

Today's topic for discussion is . . . Dining Out!

Dining out is an interesting category for us. We focus on eating at home the majority of the time, as well as make it a priority to do one date night per month. Both of those are our grounding goals for this category. However, when looking at our 2012 expenses, we realized that we spent $325/month on dining out in 2012, which is both MUCH higher than I thought, & quite frankly, not inline with our priorities.

Our goal for 2013 is $175/month. This still allows for one splurge date night (a priority for us), and a few casual lunches (Subway, etc) when traveling.

Questions for you: how much do you spend eating out? Creative ways to defray the cost? We like to have wine when we go out, which substantially ups the cost. 

What's on your to do list for today?

One week into December

I can't believe it's already the 8th, so let's do a quick goal check on my December goals.

1. Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio, 10 strength, & 5 stretch workouts. - The month is 25% over, & I'm 25% of the way to my goal (255 minutes so far). On track!
2. Finish my 12K! - This is slated for next weekend.
3. Decorate the house for the holidays, & mail all Christmas cards. - Done!
4. Lose 5 lbs (bringing me to 142). - I've lost 1.2 lbs, so I'm about 25% of the way to goal. ROUGHLY on track, but the rest of the month has lots of festivities. Need to make a huge push on this next week with my eating.
5. Finalize 2013 goals & budget. - Yes! You can read about my 2013 goals here, and our 2013 budget here.
6. Have one date night with M. - With our December calendar, I can't imagine that we'll get a chance for a date night, so we've scheduled to lunches!
7. Get together with two friends. - Yes! I've gotten together with 3 friends so far, & lots of other activities still to come.
8. Update/amend our 2011 taxes based on the $16K repayment issue. - Waiting on our revised W-2.
9. Stick to our December budget. - So far so good!
10. Clean out my closet & both boys closets. - Yeah, haven't started yet.
11. Put together our will & guardianship (at least a draft). - Yeah, haven't started yet.
12. Go to at least 5 holiday events with the kids! Lots of choices in our area - a parade that happens every night, a botanical garden decorated with lights, & a kids museum with a special gingerbread house exhibit. - We've been to two so far - the parade & the gingerbread house exhibit. Also, lots of looking at Christmas lights, & maybe some cookie baking this week.

Overall, things are going very well. I set a couple of other "bonus" goals - running 20 miles/week (a warm up for 2013, where that's a goal for the year) & posting about each budget category. So far, I'm on track with those as well. More to come!

How are you doing on your December goals?

The oft discussed grocery budget

In accordance with my plan in December to really dissect our 2013 budget & areas for cutback, I'm posting about one category per day.

Today's topic is a hot topic in the world of personal finance - groceries!

We're lowering our grocery budget. This will be tricky for us, an it's been a constant area of improvement and focus, but I feel like there's more to do here. We actually spent $680/month on groceries in 2012 (assuming December remains similar to other months), & we'd like to lower this to $540, or $125/week. I'm hoping by breaking it into weekly amounts, we'll track this more closely. Here are my initial ideas for hitting this goal:

• Finding alternatives for a few things we're currently buying, & make on my own. This will be 1-2 snacks, and hopefully. . . bread. I'm not a great baker, so we'll see how this goes.
• Become more vigilant about using our freezer food, freezing leftovers before they go bad, and taking a monthly inventory about what we have available.
• Reduce our purchase of cheese. This is one area where we tend to not eat it before it goes bad. I like variety, but it's not cost effective.

And, a little analysis of the "why" we're making changes to this budget category:

We want to make smart choices that benefit our health, & making more at home is one way to do that. By trimming our budget, I'm hopeful that it will force us to be less wasteful with what we do purchase.

If you have any easy (like, stupid simple) bread recipes, please share. We're currently using bread in the following ways in our house: bagels for breakfast (shared between the kids, served with other stuff), sandwich bread for lunches, sandwich rolls (for M's lunches). Also, if you have great favorite snack recipes, please share those as well. One of my favorite homemade snack options are granola bars from The Frugal Girl. I use craisins & chocolate chips in ours.

What is your grocery budget for 2013? Are you planning on increasing, decreasing, or keeping it the same?

The 2013 budget

All of the nitty gritty budget information is coming up, but first I just want to say that I . . . feel so good! I've been working on my Christmas giving (the donations that I want to make with the remainder of our holiday budget) & I've been loving it! I picked three names off of the giving tree at work, & tried to choose kids who were similar in age to my boys. The boys & I went shopping last night to purchase the items - a pillow pet & a beyblade. I loved their enthusiasm & excitement to help someone else. And, a friend posted on Facebook last night about a family in need, so I mailed a check. It was small, but it just made me feel so dang good inside. Sometimes I need these reminders of how lucky we are as a family, & how important it is to help others this time of year. The rest of the money will be sent to the local food bank!

As you might remember, I had all kinds of fabulous plans for the 2013 budget. Then, we had to come up with $16,000 in two weeks, and I was sent back to the drawing board.

Picture me here with a super grouchy look on my face.

After an appropriate period of feeling sad that my beautiful plan was blown to bits, I went back to work. The best part of setting the budget this year is that I dutifully tracked all of our expenses in 2012, & actually know how we spend money. This is a huge change from prior years, where I kept a rough list of what I wanted to spend in each category, but never actually tracked it. And, I'll let you in on a little secret - - there was a big difference between the two. :-)

2012 was a fabulous year, but it was also very expensive. We're buckling down in 2013, & have lots of areas for cutbacks. By bringing our monthly expenses inline with our ACTUAL monthly income (vs relying on bonuses & stock vests), we obviously are being more fiscally responsible, but when those bonuses/stock vests come, we can take those sizable chunks & use them to make big progress on our other priorities: mortgage pay downs, college funds, travel, & remodeling our house. It will definitely be a challenge, but worth it.

Rather than dumping the entire budget categorization into one post (there are 22), which I'm thinking will bore you silly, I thought it would be more fun (ha, budget fun :-)) to cover one topic per day in December, & cut to the chase today. If we follow the plan I'll be outlining for 2013 stick to our budget numbers, we'll be cutting just over $2000/month off of our standard expenses, not counting any potential changes to our refinances.

And, without further ado, here's the first budget category topic:

Home mortgage/interest rates:

We are hoping to make substantial cuts in our interest payments (via our mortgages) by refinancing. Rates are crazy low, & I think it will payoff, but we're working with a broker & running the numbers. Given our extensive investments in real estate, even a small rate change can make a huge difference over the life of the loan. Although this is not counted in the aforementioned $2K/month in cuts, we're hoping to be able to shave $700 or $800 off of our interest payments per month.

And, a little analysis of the "why" we're making changes to this budget category:
This one is easy. Who wants to spend extra money at the bank? Other categories will be infinitely more interesting & up for discussion. Our incentive - if we are able to secure lower rates across both properties, it's much more likely we can keep our vacation house.

Who wouldn't want to keep a house where this is right outside your door?

How is your 2013 budget planning coming? Are you ready? What areas are you planning on cutting or increasing?

2013 Goals

I love the process of turning over the calendar & setting new, fresh goals for the year ahead. See my previous post about what motivates me. I'm sure I drive my husband JUST a little bit batty. :-)

Right now, I'm at the starting point of 2013, & it's such a fantastic feeling. . . butterflies, anticipation, feeling like absolutely anything is possible.

This is me, getting ready to lead my team on a 200 mile adventure (Hood To Coast Relay) from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon this summer. I'm at the starting line, nervous as heck, having no idea what lay ahead, but excited beyond words. Similar to how I feel about a new year! In many ways, running is a great metaphor for how I feel.

 

 

 

As the year wears on, there will be a lot of this, I'm sure:

 

Yeah, that's me looking so completely exhausted, coated in sweat, about half way through the most difficult run of my life. It was 90, way hillier than I expected, & I ran out of water.

And then, I'm still hopeful that the year will hold a little bit of this:

 

 

 

Victories, goals achieved, personal bests, pushing myself far beyond what I thought was possible. . .


And with that, here's what's on my goal list for 2013!

1. Lose 10 pounds, bringing my weight to 135. I'm trying to shoot for a healthy, but realistic number.
2. Track my food/exercise every day in My Fitness Pal.
3. Complete 13,000 minutes of cardio. This will be a huge stretch goal for me, but I'm ready for the challenge!
4. Complete 100 strength workouts.
5. Complete 100 stretching workouts.
6. Run consistently:
• Run 10 races. I have a few in mind, but basically want to challenge myself to really maintain my running endurance throughout the year.
• Run 20 miles (or more per week).
• Run 1000 miles in 2013.
• Achieve a personal best in a half marathon.
• Run a 5K, 10K, 15K, & potentially a 30K.
7. Reach 50% of our boys college fund savings. This will take around $10,000, depending on the tuition price fluctuation.
8. Pay $50,000 of principal on our mortgages.
9. Have one date night per month with M.
10. Get together with two friends per month.
11. Track our spending, stick to our budget, & continue the monthly reports.
12. Review our charitable contributions, & increase our yearly giving by 10%.
13. Organize one room in our house per month.



A little bit of structure

I just completed a personality profile course for work, so lately the way I accomplish things & my communication style is very much at the top of my mind. I'm a highly organized person, & take great satisfaction out of accomplishing things. I'm very goal driven, & like to see progress measured daily, monthly, as frequently as possible. Now, this is not always a good thing. I'm VERY impatient & get frustrated when things move at a slower pace. . . say, paying off a long-term debt, achieving a savings, goal, etc.

This "race" to get things done can also lead me to overlook the small stuff, like snuggling cute boys.

Learning to live a bit more in the moment is something I'm actively working on. In the meantime, I try to be as efficient as I possibly can, which allows me to both: accomplish (most) of what I want/need to get done, as it also frees up more time to enjoy time with my kiddos.

I'm also figuring out how to take satisfaction in things that cannot be measured, and alternatively, figuring out how to motivate myself on projects that are long range. I'm no expert at this, but tend to break my goals into very specific measurables. Speaking of which, I'll be posting my 2013 goals soon. I'm excited about the year ahead.

What is your style for getting things done? If you share my "quirks", how do you stay/feel motivated for long range tasks?